


Varric's Fall

by mrs_theirin



Series: the fall that feels like flying [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Varric falls in love and acts like an idiot for almost 7 years, Varric's POV, they're really in love i don't know what to tell you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26665330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_theirin/pseuds/mrs_theirin
Summary: The love story of Eden Hawke and Varric Tethras, extremely oversimplified and summarized, from Varric's POV.
Relationships: Female Hawke/Varric Tethras, Hawke/Varric Tethras
Series: the fall that feels like flying [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028490
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Varric's Fall

**Author's Note:**

> i've had absolutely no motivation to write anything and then i just banged this one out in like an hour so i hope you guys enjoy LMAO

Varric’s fall was almost immediate and  _ definitely  _ made him feel like shit.

A strong, confident woman, even after getting her purse stolen, staring down at him, one single eyebrow raised, taking a stance in front of her brother and sister. Strange to see an older sibling actually deem to protect their younger siblings. 

“Varric Tethras, at your service,” he had introduced himself, and the smile on her face was breathtaking. 

Of course, this wasn’t where he fell in  _ love.  _ If anyone believes in love at first sight, it certainly isn’t Varric. Besides, she was only an asset. Sure, he wanted her as a business partner, but nothing more than that. After the expedition was over, they’d have a few drinks and probably never speak again.

Of course, that’s not what happened.

Varric watched her. He watched as she began to pick up companions; Blondie, Daisy, Broody, Rivaini. He watched her flirt with Choir Boy, teasing him just so she could see that “perfect shade of pink” as she called it. He watched her mellow around Broody, carefully choosing her words and use of her magic. Every person they met changed her into a different person, and he soon realized she was just like him.

Fortunately for him, he didn’t have time to deal with that, so they set off on their expedition and he pushed it to the back of his mind. It came careening back in, however, after Bartrand. He had never seen someone so determined to stay positive, and he knew she was doing it for him. Sure, he had gotten her into this mess, but his brother just betrayed him. She could worry about that later.

Then Junior happened.

It was the first (although certainly not the last) time he had seen her truly vulnerable. It was painful to watch, seeing her struggle to drag her brother along, not sure that the Grey Wardens could even be found. But they were found, and with tears in her eyes, she joked and messed around with Junior as he was carried away, and Varric then knew what desperation looked like. 

They had returned and refused to speak about any part of it; Bartrand, Junior, any of it. She had come out of the Deep Roads a changed woman, one more intent on hiding her emotions behind smirks and banter. It was a tactic Varric knew all too well. 

The next few years were the best of his life, despite all the shit that took place during them. She had drifted away from Aveline, instead fighting with her whenever she could, whether it be for fun or out of genuine anger. Sometimes Varric couldn’t tell. They had drinks almost every night, laughing and disturbing whatever peace you could find in the Hanged Man. She was a hero, a genuine rags-to-riches story, a savior of the little people. 

Varric knew she was just Hawke. Of course he told magnificent stories about her, most of which were laced with lies and exaggerations, but he soon realized the one thing he didn’t have to lie about. Her beauty. 

The feelings were back.

Well, they had never really gone away. He had just put them with the other stuff in Varric’s Box of Unwanted and/or Hard-To-Deal-With Feelings. She joked and flirted with everyone, and her constant use of “best friend” when describing him really wasn’t the glowing testimonial for romance that he wanted. So this time he pushed them down much farther, this time into the Extremely Repressed Feelings That I’d Rather Die Than Admit section of his brain box, and tried to move on.

Unfortunately, as a liar, he should’ve known that the hardest person to fool is yourself. 

He found himself doing small things for her; letting her stay the night after a long night of drinking, walking her home when everyone else had already gone to bed, hurrying to her house when she sent for him at ungodly hours. That wasn’t Varric. Varric didn’t  _ hurry.  _ And he certainly didn’t hurry for a human.

That was his out. He told himself humans were too confusing, too tall, too big. Hawke was a human, therefore...But it didn’t work that way. Varric saw her as a human less and less every day. She was evolving into a goddess of flame, beautiful and bright but painful if touched. He had to remember that. Beautiful, but dangerous. 

Yeah. 

After her mother died, Varric decided he didn’t mind getting burned. He told himself it was selfish. He told himself to think of Bianca. But Varric found he didn’t care for Bianca all that much anymore. In fact, Bianca had never made him feel the way Hawke’s laugh made him feel, filling him up with a warmth you only get from stepping directly into a beautiful fire. 

He threw a party to celebrate the Champion. The kiss she had given him that night told him he wasn’t being selfish. 

Things were a bit awkward after that. She said she loved him, and he said it back. Eden Hawke loved him. That didn’t ward off the uncertainty that was around for quite a while after. Were they together? Did she mean it? Was she just drunk? 

Then she had her breakdown and he knew what he had to do. Feelings aside, he would be there for her. Things were unsure for a while, but her happiness was the only thing that mattered. Then one night, she held him close, and told him she loved him. Again. She spilled her heart out and said she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

He didn’t know it was possible to fall further, but he did. They became an unofficial official thing then, agreeing to keep it a secret. Kirkwall didn’t need to know about them. It’s not that Varric was embarrassed; if he wanted to, he would stand on the rooftops and declare his love for her to the world, and Varric doesn’t do that. Varric doesn’t  _ declare.  _ Varric doesn’t sing songs and feel butterflies when he thinks about someone. 

Except Hawke.

He knew she had to keep her safe though, which is why he wrote Anders had acted alone, why he wrote Orsino turned into a horrible creature, why he left out that Hawke had opened her house to the many mages living on the streets. It’s why when interrogated, he kept his mouth shut about their relationship. He tossed a few flirty moments in here and there, hopefully to throw Cassandra off the trail.

It had worked. The Seeker’s face when she found out about their relationship should be something that’s cast in stone for all eternity. Most of the others already knew; there was nothing to hide anymore. They didn’t hide the way they flirted, the way they touched each other, the way her head landed on his shoulder when she was drunk. 

It was impossible to hide his fear when he fell out of the fade rift. She was in there for an uncomfortably long amount of time, and he watched as the green and yellow swirled, and he thought back to that first meeting, and the awful green color of her armor. He thought about how she hated green, and yellow for that matter. How ironic if she fell to her least favorite colors.

He had hit himself for that joke, and just as he had, she fell through, the Inquisitor following soon after. No Junior. He saw the anguish on her face. The way she had landed, she was definitely pushed.    
  
_ Junior...Always wanted to be the hero, huh? _

They couldn’t hold a funeral service for him. She didn’t want to dwell on it. They had fought that day, blankets and ink thrown throughout their room. They had never fought before. He didn’t like it.

Junior was back about 2 weeks later, claiming Merrill had saved him from the Fade. She had been exasperated with him, but the look on her face and her body language let anyone watching know she had missed her little brother. Varric had to admit he missed him too.

They had the wedding after that, inviting all of Skyhold to join them in the Herald’s Rest. They had laughed, drank, cheered, danced, and sung, and when it was all over, he and Hawke went up to their room and had their own little honeymoon. 

She hadn’t reacted kindly to seeing Bianca. Now his official wife, she had fixed the dwarf with such a cruel glare he was sure Bianca would freeze to death. He knew she was made of stronger stuff than that. Eden spoke for him when Bianca’s deception had been revealed, and he sat in silence as the two women fought. If it had been anyone else, he would’ve stood up for Bianca, telling everyone to let it go and move on. But this was Eden. He knew she had been holding a grudge against Bianca for years, so he stayed silent and watched them argue. 

Eden had ended the argument with a swift, “It’s not hard to see you never deserved him,” and stormed away. 

Varric and Eden never spoke of Bianca again. They attended the masquerade at the Winter Palace, much to Vivienne’s dismay, and caused mischief the whole night, much to Sera’s delight. The events flew by in a blur and he found himself elated at the prospect of dancing with her in front of all those stuffy nobles. They had; along with Dorian, Ashariani, Josephine, and even Iron Bull. Cullen even got to step in, and Varric could see even from a distance that Eden was giving him a hard time. Good. The commander walked away from their dance with a flushed face and a never-speak-of-this-again expression. 

When they returned home, they relaxed. Everything was going to be okay. They were together, and nothing was going to keep them apart again. When Varric fell, he fell fast and hard. His only wish now?

That he had fallen faster.


End file.
